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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207395">Like Stars Colliding</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_homestuck/pseuds/dancing_homestuck'>dancing_homestuck</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Heart of Iron - Ashley Poston</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cannon Typical Violence, Gen, I hope the title isn't too dramatic lol, I just went with the first thing that popped into my head, NO DEATH, Prequel, Spoilers, a little bit of ass kicking, but not many, cause i figure that once they are best friends forever, di is there too, eventually, i hope i tagged the platonic relationship right, it is so hard to tag right without good full names for everyone, jax and ana are an absolute TERROR, like a super nova, or a couple of stars colliding, tell me if i used the wrong symbol pleassssse, the amount of mischief two children of a legendary space pirate can get into..., this is all about jax and ana getting to become bffls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:13:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,507</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_homestuck/pseuds/dancing_homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jax and Ana are like brother and sister, but that kind of relationship doesn't just happen over night. This is how Jax grew to appreciate the girl who came onto their ship in a sack.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jax | Ana, Jaxander Taizu | Ananke Armorav</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Like Stars Colliding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Uhhhhhhh I hope you like this lol! Hopefully I will produce subsequent chapters eventually</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The universe was open and Jax could feel the stars around him. The comforting sense of knowing exactly where he was enveloped him as he watched the lights in the darkness twinkle outside the starshield. Sat in the Dossier’s cockpit, Jax couldn’t feel more at home. It had been a couple years since Captain Siege had let him join her crew and he’s finally been trusted to fly completely unsupervised when they weren’t on a job. He’s still trying to convince Siege he can fly them out of any danger – because he can – but she always just chuckles and says, “Some day you will.” It’s honestly very frustrating, but he’ll get his chance to prove his metal yet. </p>
<p>For now, though, he’s happy to just enjoy getting to be exactly where he should be. Stars above him, Cerces in view, and the red SOS light on the dash flashing. Wait. The red SOS light flashing? Jax looked at the blinking light – an alarming red going in and out at a surprisingly languid rate. That meant someone within range had an SOS signal out. Their ship and anyone else within range of that signal should be receiving the distress call, it was a mandatory standard on all vessels. </p>
<p>Quickly, Jax wasted no time in fixing on the signal. He pressed the intercom button as well, “Captain, we’ve got an SOS on radar.” Jax could feel the beginnings of an adrenaline rush entering his veins, but he reeled himself in. He needed to stay calm and cool, exhibit equanimity. He did stupid things when he let himself get too excited, and as the galaxy’s best pilot he didn’t have room for doing stupid things. </p>
<p>It wasn’t a minute before Captain Siege entered the cockpit, hair glowing a sun-yellow that filled the previously dim room with light. She had already dawned her red coat, her already imposing figure looking bullet proof. Wick followed behind her to take his place at the communications console, opening the right program to interpret the message. </p>
<p>SOS’s were a big deal; you never knew what you were getting yourself into. Is it a merchant ship that was raided and left for dead? Is the danger passed or will they find two groups still battling? Maybe someone who found themselves off course and stranded without enough fuel to get them anywhere. In this neck of the Kingdom, on the wrong side of Cerces and too far for comfort from Iliad, there was a possibility that they could be too late for anyone in a stranded craft. There also was always the possibility of the SOS being a lure to an ambush, a trick Jax always thought of as particularly dirty. </p>
<p>“How far away are we?” Siege asked, watching the screens in front of him. She’d stand close to him, but he never felt in danger of her touching him. It was such a relief that she just let him be about that; so many people, when told he didn’t like to be touched, took that as a challenge to try their damnedest to. It was truly exhausting.<br/>

“About thirty-minutes,” he replied, “We should have visual in twenty.” Thirty-minutes at the speed they’re going, even if it was just a typical cruise, was a lot of space. It was in an odd direction, too – away from the planets that could hold people who could help. Jax didn’t tend to think too optimistically when situations started looking strange. </p>
<p>“Decode it yet?” The captain asked, looking over to Wick. </p>
<p>Wick nodded, one earmuff of his headset pressed to his ear, “Large escape pod, but only two on board. No other information.” </p>
<p>Well now that was just confusing. Why would only two people be on a large escape pod? Large pods are built to hold around 75-100 souls, so if something went wrong on a ship that required pods like that there should have been more people, and possibly other pods. But if this was a spoof, it was a bad one. Why would bandits planning an ambush make such a strange and vague SOS? They would have said a small pod with a couple passengers to lower their guard and sent more complete information like what vessel they came from, any injuries to the passengers or damage to the pod, time since ejection – normal, standard information that’s typically auto-filled into the SOS signal. It put everyone on-edge, the opposite of what a false-message was made to do.<br/>

The captain frowned, no doubt going through the same calculations Jax was – after all, he’d learned it all from her. “And there’s no sign of any other ship? Not even the mother?” </p>
<p>Jax ran another scan of the area, this time finer as he had a clearer idea of where to be looking. He shook his head. “Nothing we can detect, Captain.” Just because the Dossier didn’t see them, didn’t mean they weren’t cloaked, but there at least wasn’t a mother ship anywhere in sight. </p>
<p>Wick shook his head too, “No other communications, no signal interceptions, barely even any base radio waves all the way out here.” </p>
<p>“Send out a response signal, let them know we’re coming,” Siege said at last. Even if they were suspicious, there was no need to tell anyone out there listening that they thought something was wrong. </p>
<p>Wick nodded and sent out the appropriate signal, reporting that it was received, but no further information sent. </p>
<p>Jax really didn’t like this, but he couldn’t blame the captain; if there really was someone in trouble all the way out here, there probably wouldn’t be anyone else passing by for a long time. After all, that was the only reason they were traveling in such deserted space themselves to begin with. </p>
<p>Slowly, finally, the pod in question came within range of the Dossier’s external camera. Jax zoomed in and displayed the grainy image up on he main holoscreen, the image slowly getting sharper the closer they inched. It was definitely a large pod, looking to fit 100 souls easily, most likely with food for all of them for at least two weeks. It was so clean and new looking that it was genuinely shiny. The pod rotated slightly as it drifted. It wasn’t deployed from the mother ship particularly fast, it seemed, or else they’d still be going that speed. Either that or someone was controlling the ship and had slowed it on purpose, which wouldn’t make much sense in the middle of nowhere. </p>
<p>Jax searched the area for any other visuals or crafts, but he couldn’t find even the heat trails of anyone who might be around to jump them. Fishy. Fishy, fishy, fishy.<br/>

“Oh my,” he heard the captain say, and snapped his head back to the main holoscreen. The glorified tin can had rotated enough to reveal an insignia painted onto its side: a large purple octopus with a ninth tentacle. </p>
<p>“Ironbloods,” Jax said under his breath, knowing that was a symbol he’d seen before but not remembering whose it was. </p>
<p>“Rasovant,” Siege filled in, her green eyes hardening. Ironbloods were always trouble. Even if they helped them, there’d be no guaranteeing the bastards wouldn’t turn around and turn them in. But still, it would be genuinely cruel to leave anyone out here, especially when they’d already responded to the SOS. </p>
<p>There was no way anything good was going to come of this. </p>
<p>“Jaxon, Wick, keep scanning for stray signals and any, I mean any, movement.” Wick and Jax both nodded. Siege then reached over Jax’s shoulder and pressed the intercom button, “We’re approaching a Rasovant escape pod, size large, reportedly only carrying two. Barger, I want you on the guns in case we’re getting tricked. Talle, I want you and Riggs to be our welcoming party, be prepared to lead em off to the med bay if they need it.” </p>
<p>A series of affirmatives voiced themselves over the ship’s speakers and noise was heard elsewhere in the Dossier as everyone moved to their positions. They were a bit light handed, being between jobs and simply cruising to the next where they’d pick up a few temporary hands. Jax hoped they wouldn’t need more than who they had for a company of two. Jax hoped it was really a company of two. </p>
<p>Fifteen minutes from the pod and the seconds ticked by like hours. Jax had every sweeping program he could think of running, but there wasn’t even a ghost to be found. </p>
<p>Ten minutes from the pod and finally Wick’s pinging made a proper connection. “Dossier pinging Escape Pod 02,” Wick said, apparently now getting a signal through to the craft, “Confirm status.” </p>
<p>There was a long moment of Jax and Siege watching Wick, his face making it seem as if it was difficult to make out what the other was saying. At last, he looked to the captain with a report, “They’re on low power, radio’s malfunctioning. It’s two, alright, though; says it’s a Metal with a little girl and the girl needs medical attention.”<br/>

That… what? Jax looked at Wick incredulously. Why didn’t any piece of this situation make sense? What kind of day was this? Jax found himself ruffled, but the captain looked as if she’d simply been told water was wet. </p>
<p>Five minutes from the pod and Jax could see via the camera aimed at the airlock Riggs and Talle were geared up in their miss-match space suits. “Jaxon, we’re going to come at them nice and slow and deploy our hooks. They can slide across and Riggs and Talle will take em. Wick, relay all that to them, will you?”</p>
<p>Jax nodded and prepared for the maneuver. It was strange to be rescuing a pod that was, now that they approached in proper, actually a little larger than they were. He didn’t like this, since they’d be extremely vulnerable with their hooks out, but there wasn’t a damn thing in sight to cause them harm. At least it was a formal escape pod, such that it had designated points to implant hooks rather than him having to be careful not to pierce the wrong bit of its side. </p>
<p>Sidled up to it, Jax watched anxiously through his feed as the air locks of the Dossier and of the escape pod opened. The angle was poor, but Jax could make out a Metal, looking just as any other Metal did, holding a white cocoon. The cocoon wasn’t exactly a space suit so much as a space bag, common stock on an escape pod so that they could hook each bag to tethers and slide it across without worrying about the price or fit of a space suit for everyone on board. The Metal followed the standard procedure to a t. The bag was adult sized, for some reason, and if it hadn’t been for the lack of gravity Jax suspected the lump of person – the aforementioned girl, he guesses – would fall to the bottom rather comically. Talle caught the bag, and the Metal followed, simply grabbing onto the tether with his iron hand and gliding along it. Riggs almost caught it before the metal stopped itself by holding onto the tether tighter and letting friction do its work. Probably for the best; they may not be experiencing gravity out there, but that Metal still had mass and an acceleration. </p>
<p>Once the airlock was secured again and Talle, Riggs, the bag, and the Metal disappeared from the camera’s view, Jax disconnected their hooks and reeled them back in nice and easy. In reaction to being released, the floating pod drifted backwards away from them, airlock door still open to space as it returned to slowly rotating. It’d probably end up in Haven’s Grave one day or something. </p>
<p>Just like that, they now had two of the strangest passengers in the galaxy on their ship. </p>
<p>“All right, let’s get us back on our way to that waystation now,” Siege said to him, and Jax was more than happy to turn the ship around and toward an actual destination. This couldn’t be bandits because they never would have even had anything in the pod to begin with, but he still felt paranoid here. He could feel that space was full of stars and light, felt it every day, but this little corner seemed to be nothing emptiness. </p>
<p>“We’ll see to the girl and I’ll let you know if you need to step on it depending on how bad off she is, but for now let’s take it just like we were. If these folks are running from something, there’s no reason to give nobody something to chase.” </p>
<p>Jax had been so caught up in thinking this was all a trap he hadn’t even thought of the possibility of someone running from something. Really, he hadn’t even thought of who they might have just picked up. He recalled how small the body in the bag had looked, a bit smaller than him, he’d say. Now he was filled with questions over who they were and what had happened. Why were they in such a big pod? Why was it on low power? Why were they in this weird part of space? There was a slice of guilt built in that he hadn’t been very concerned until just now.</p>
<p>“Barger, you can go ahead and stand down,” the captain said into the intercom. She was returned with a, “Make me bloody get all the way into this damn-fangled piece of shit just for me not to be allowed to shoot anything?” which was as close as Barger tended to get towards, “Yes, of course, Captain.” </p>
<p>“Wick, with me. Cockpit’s all yours, Kiddo,” Siege said turning to leave the cockpit. Wick nodded, shut down his station and followed. Jax suddenly deflated, realizing the one drawback to being the pilot: his place was this chair. He wanted desperately to leap out and run down to the cargo bay where the Metal surely was and watch how the captain might grill him, or to lay eyes on the girl in the bag. His stomach suddenly formed a knot as he remembered that the girl was injured. How badly, he wondered, and could they help her? Was she on death’s door? Or was she some Ironblood kid who considered a day without breakfast or a splinter to be proper suffering? </p>
<p>Either way, he wasn’t going to find out any time soon. Not unless someone was going to swap with him at the helm or come up and tell him what was up, and it seemed like these two were a real all-hands-on-deck issue at the moment. The guilt from before bit at him again, reminding him he shouldn’t treat an injured person as a spectacle. Then again, if this strange rescue wasn’t a spectacle, then what was?</p>
<p>Jax sighed to himself, the adrenaline he had squashed down earlier leaving him with an empty feeling as it dissipated. Guess now was as good a time as ever to work on his patience.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you like this, let me know! Kudos, comment, and come follow me at onstarsandiron . tumblr . com!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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